Crossword clues for attenuate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, Attenuated \At*ten"u*a`ted\, a. [L. attenuatus, p. p.]
Made thin or slender.
Made thin or less viscid; rarefied.
--Bacon.
Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attenuated; p. pr. & vb. n. Attenuating.] [L. attenuatus, p. p. of attenuare; ad + tenuare to make thin, tenuis thin. See Thin.]
To make thin or slender, as by mechanical or chemical action upon inanimate objects, or by the effects of starvation, disease, etc., upon living bodies.
To make thin or less consistent; to render less viscid or dense; to rarefy. Specifically: To subtilize, as the humors of the body, or to break them into finer parts.
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To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less complex; to weaken.
To undersell our rivals . . . has led the manufacturer to . . . attenuate his processes, in the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point.
--I. Taylor.We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagerness.
--Sir F. Palgrave.
Attenuate \At*ten"u*ate\, v. i. To become thin, slender, or fine; to grow less; to lessen.
The attention attenuates as its sphere contracts.
--Coleridge.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"to make thin, to make less," 1520s, from Latin attenuatus "enfeebled, weak," past participle of attenuare "to make thin, lessen, diminish," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + tenuare "make thin," from tenuis "thin" (see tenet). Related: Attenuated; attenuating. Earlier was Middle English attenuen "to make thin (in consistency)," early 15c.
Wiktionary
(context botany of leaves English) Gradually tapering into a petiole-like extension toward the base. v
1 (context transitive English) To reduce in size, force, value, amount, or degree. 2 (context transitive English) To make thinner, as by physically reshaping, starving, or decaying. 3 (context transitive English) To weaken. 4 (context transitive English) To rarefy. 5 (context transitive medicine English) To reduce the virulence of a bacteria or virus. 6 (context transitive electronics English) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical signal.
WordNet
adj. reduced in strength; "the faded tones of an old recording" [syn: attenuated, faded, weakened]
v. weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance) [syn: rarefy]
become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude
Usage examples of "attenuate".
Lovers in like manner live on their capital from failure of income: they, too, for the sake of stifling apprehension and piping to the present hour, are lavish of their stock, so as rapidly to attenuate it: they have their fits of intoxication in view of coming famine: they force memory into play, love retrospectively, enter the old house of the past and ravage the larder, and would gladly, even resolutely, continue in illusion if it were possible for the broadest honey-store of reminiscences to hold out for a length of time against a mortal appetite: which in good sooth stands on the alternative of a consumption of the hive or of the creature it is for nourishing.
It was a record of a laser message that had come plowing through the Pak system, torn and attenuated and garbled by dust clouds and distance, in a language no longer spoken.
These attenuated volumes of poetry in fancy bindings open their covers at one like so many little unfledged birds, and one does so long to drop a worm in,--a worm in the shape of a kind word for the poor fledgling!
In no case was the blade of the leaf, even the attenuated apex, at all inflected.
No distinct line of demarcation can be drawn between the pedicels of the long terminal tentacles and the much attenuated summits of the leaves.
The most singular character about the leaves is that the apex is enlarged into a little knob, covered with glands, and about a third broader than the adjoining part of the attenuated leaf.
He looked as if he were suffering a bit: visibly shivering, his chest rising and falling rapidly in the attenuated Air, his hands pushing leaves into his downturned mouth with an urgency that looked more like a craving for comfort than for food.
The globe was like a star itself, but attenuated, bloated, its outer layers so diffuse as almost to merge with the all-pervading gas cloud.
Her attenuated limbs could scarce bear their burden, and she would declare with a wan smile that the blood in her veins would not suffice for a little bird, and that she must have plenty of soup.
And over her poor attenuated face with its cheeks burning with fever, there swept the bright hope of a new life.
Sidereal light illuminated the diaphanous membranes, devoid of color, the delicate antennae, the feminine waist and long, improbably spindly legs and arms that shone as if covered with tiny scales, the face with its bulging, faceted eyes, and the attenuated tongue, still searching.
The game, slow and subtle, tense and attenuated, stretched from morning to afternoon and then to evening.
As the caravan snaked its way down this road, it could be seen that dwellings existed atop the columns, angular houses of pebbles and clay, and these were linked to one another by spidery suspended bridges and attenuated ropes.
She felt a connection, but a tenuous one, perhaps attenuated by the sphere of force.
It was humiliating to have to explain that she was allowed no money, but at least having to endure this attenuated her embarrassment over wearing so little.